Reflections on the Christian journey based on the lectionary gospel texts

Sunday, 8 April 2012

Easter Day 2012

Good Friday crosses at Creaton church

All week I have been struggling with grief, trying
to understand the Easter story in the context of loss. This morning I am
reminded that Mary Magdalene, Mary
the mother of James, Joanna and Salome, stricken with grief, fear and
responsibility, also had to cope with the unexpected. They saw Jesus both on their way to tell others but also
later near the tomb. They, like many people in our world today, didn’t have the
hope and understanding of resurrection that we as Christians have.

Grief doesn’t
disappear in an instant. The
comfort of a loving God dawns gradually and gently on our pain. When the four
women were at the empty tomb of Jesus they must have cried out and their faith
must have been tested.

So I invite you, as
Christians , to join me prayers of Intercession, holding our hands together
uplifted to our Lord God in supplication and pleading, on behalf of those who
can’t or will not pray themselves.

Today I cry out to
you, loving God, for all the things in this world that are troubling. We are
the lucky ones, having the privilege of knowing of your forgiveness we
intercede for those in pain, confusion and fear.

Fear of the
unknown, of oppression, and poverty in this country and elsewhere in your
stricken world.

Disunity
-The Bosnia's Serb Republic decision to ignore the
solemn remembrance of the day marked by row upon row
of empty red chairs, one for each of the 11,541 who died that day, 20 years ago
in Sarajevoat the beginning of this
terrible war.

Violence
- in Syria as it approaches
the date of the cease fire, the killing has not abated, we pray for peace

Fairness
and peace -
In Burma despite there being some signs of progress, democracy is still a long
way away.

Hope
for religious tolerance.- as
shown by Cuba’s decision to mark Easter with a public holiday on Good Friday,
for the first time in decades.

So also we pray for freedom to worship for those in
countries where this has not been possible, peaceful coexistence in divided
communities and fairness in access to the necessities of life on your wonderful earth.

Strengthen those
who are trying to promote fairer government especially in those countries where
human rights are secondary to greed and corruption.

Discourage those
who seek to impose unnecessary bureaucracy on our lives, particularly as we
face up to the lack of privacy already imposed by our internet age.

Be close to those
who’s lives are limited by illness, addiction, and worries about employment and
money. Enfold them in the warmth of your love and ease their troubled minds. We
pray for peace for the parents of a six-year-old girl who died at a campsite in
Hampshire

and in a moment of
contemplation we name silently those know to us who are in need of your comfort and care..........................

Be close to all who
suffer and help us to have the strength to support, in any way we can, those
less fortunate than ourselves. Support,
we pray all who minister as they seek to lead us forward to the
glory of your name and, help us to use the privilege of faith in you, to see
and act on opportunities to display our faith through thought and action.

As Christians today
we celebrate the resurrection of your son who died for us and our sins. Loving, caring, compassionate God; we place all of our prayers into your hands, knowing
that through your gift of Jesus into our world we can pray like this today in
his name.